Ice breaker



jzme 7, 349. A. c. ENNETT AL IC E BREAKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 7, 1946 v 7 9E WWW Fa V 65 T m 4 k6 Z 4W V. B

June Z 1949. A. c. BENNETT ETAL ICE BREAKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 7, 1946 A 6 74/14 4522/7/72)? BY 7/ INVENTORfi Patented June 7, 1949 ITE D 11.01 BREAKER Azzel can: Bennett; Hudson,- N. Y and Walter G; -Englr, *Gliicago, 111.; eassignors .zto .Gififord- Wood Gompan ygI-Iudsm, N. Y., a corporation of New Work-1.

Applicationflebizuary 7, 1946, Serial 'No. 6 16;018

intosmaller pieces.

Crushed ice is .usedIormany purposes ;:including the preservation ofiood, Various drinks, cool-- ing in general, and, in some cases, for air conditioning. Certain sizes of crushed .or broken. ice are better for some purposes than .othjehs'izes. and ,hence it is customary iorice manufacturers to ,screenthe broken ice intorvar'ious sizes. Thea.

.very I fine ice, such. as will pass. through a l/4""' for 1;" screen, has very ;-limited uses and, in many instances, practicallyno sales .value ,to the .,-Droducer. For this reason,,ice.breakers whichproduce the smallest percentage of suchfihe iceiare the .best machines .-f or'the producer.

The general object of our invention istto provide .anice breaker which will produce crushe or .broken ice-with a :mediuxn quantity. of panticles whiohxare Ar zor less in. size. Another. objeot.,is

to provide a pick which :will have very little, .if

any, tendency to ibendz;away;.-from the edrumto which it isattaohed when itistrikesthe ice.v .Another iobiect {is sto provide .azpick having ablade of such =or0ss .section that it williitendtosbreak zthe :ice into small :pieces of approximately [the desired :size with ,a minimum production of. ery fine .rparticles. Another object is .-.to .proyide, -.a pick which --.Will require .less vpower to driveit through-the ice :tha-n the-present type ioi ,picks. Another object .is to proyidera-n improved type-of wherebyichurning oi the ioepmandaboye the flumbiiw lth the production of .undesirable proportion. of ivory fine particles is avoided. An

other .objeot *is to ,provide an improved .type of drumzoi- :glZea-ter capacityv than the present dru for the same width of :face. andthe asameenumber ofrgnoups of teeth. or picks. .And a iurther object istoprovide a :novel drum'and -pick combination of greater efficiency. both ingpower-consumntion and inthe quantity, of saleable product produced thanthose now employed.

With :those ob cts ;-in view; our. inventionineludes ithe novel :elements and the (combinations .iandarrangements thereof .described below-and illustrated in. the accompanyin drawings in :Which.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of our improved spick;

:Flig..2 is Ca. right hand :side- View .of thepick as shown in Fig. .1; Big. 3 is .a section of Fig.2 inutheuplarie 3 -13.;

Elia-+1 is -a; fragmentary .section through anioe breaker showing our improved type of drum .With our picks thereon together with the comb; and

2. illustrating the action of the :pi'cksion faieakeaof ice;

Fig. 5 is a section of Fig. Jr-taken in the broken plane 55 of Fig. 4;

*Fig. '6 is a section in the plane B B of- Fig. 4

' but showing only one section of the drum;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section in the p'lane '-'l-'I of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a section-similar 'to Figk-fl showi-ng=-tl ie present type'ofcomband drum Fig. 9 is a fragmentary section of our drum showing the action of a pick as it strikes thetop ofgthe-ice;

Fig.- 10 is an-end view of a modifiedtypeof drum; and

Fig. ,11 is a front'elevation-viewof the-drum shown in Fig. '10-.

Referring to the drawings; andfirstto Figs-'1, J2 and 3; I Our pick comprises a shank*l ablade fi'and' a portion 3 intermediate the shank and blade and integral with and connecting the shank-and blade together. The shank "l is shown as-cylihdrical, but may be-tapered, and-is designed toque reoeved in a socket Win or onthe-drnm-5-as shown in Fig. 4. The portion13 of the pick-which connects the shank and the blade together-"is angularly disposed to the axis of the shank'and the point 6 of the blade 2 is nearerthe axial-line of the shank than the portion I which is adjacent the shank. Thus, the pick may be describedtas .a hook-like element. In cross section, theiblade lie preferably triangular in shape as shown in Fig.3. Referring now more particularly toFig; 4; we have shown indotted. outline the approximate -.positionof a pick bladZ'when it strikes .theitop .of :the ice. The dash and dot 'IinejB is a line tangent .to the circular path of the pick point, :while the dash and .dot line .9' is approximately the center line of the blade .2. From the showing here, it will be .noted that, when .theblaiie strikes the .top it of the ice I], thev centerfline .of the bladeis approximatelyinormal .to the plane of. the top of the ice. ,In other words. the blade .iollows directly behind the ,point int the ice instead of moving sidewise through a .zonebetween .thepoint and the drum. 'Byso designingthepitik ,thatit first strikes and follows through theice as above described, notonly 1's considerablyless ,powvererequired .to force the pick intoth'e icethan the case where the centerylines of-thepicks are inclined to the plane'of-the top surfaceof the ice at a substantially less anglefbutthereis no tendency to bend the point of the=pik away 3 from the drum. Furthermore, the blades 2 of the picks, because of their triangular cross section and the manner in which they strike the ice tend to cause the ice to fracture along lines, such as shown at l2, l3 and [4 in Fig. 9, which radiate outwardly from the corners of the pick. This tends to produce small pieces of ice of approximately the desired size with a minimum proportion of very fine particles.

While picks of our design may be applied to the usual smooth, cylindrical drum and thereby improve the efiiciency of the ice breaker equipped with such a drum, we prefer to provide our drum with a plurality of axially spaced, circumferentially-extending, annular ribs, such as shown at IS in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11. These ribs are cut away or interrupted as best shown at I6 in Figs. 4, 10 and 11 to provide spaces for the lugs H in Figs. 10 and 11, and the lugs 30 in Figs. 4 and 5, which are provided with passages l8 forming the sockets 4 adapted to receive the shanks I of the picks which are secured therein by means of nuts l9 cooperating with the threaded ends 20 of the shanks.

One of the functions of the ribs is to prevent or at least reduce churning of the ice at the comb which results in an undesirably high proportion of fine particles. How this is effected by the ribs will best be understood by consideration of Figs. 4, '7 and 8. Referring to these figures, 2| is the comb plate having teeth 22 between which the pick blades pass. With the blades disposed in diametrically opposite groups, it will be apparent that, after any group of blades has passed out of contact with the ice, the ice II will slide downwardly until it contacts the ribs. The line of contact of the ice with the drum ribs is shown at 23 in Fig. 7. But where there are no ribs on the drum, as is the case of drum 24 shown in Fig. 8, the line of contact 25 of the ice would be against the cylindrical drum surface, provided the picks were arranged in groups as shown. By providing the ribs I on the drum, the approach of the cake of ice to the drum is limited by the ribs and hence substantial spaces 26 (see Fig. '7). are always provided opposite the comb teeth through which particles of ice of substantial size may readily pass. This is not true in the present types of drums as will be apparent from a consideration of Fig. 8. It will also be apparent that, while there is more space between the comb and the ribbed roll in our machine for the passage of ice than is the case with the present type of drums, none of these spaces is any larger than the spaces where a drum of the type shown in Fig. 8 is used when there are no picks between the comb teeth. Furthermore, by arranging the picks in groups as shown in the drawings, and thus providing an opportunity for the ice to slide down en masse against the ribs in the interval which elapses between the time when the last pick of one group leaves the ice and before the first pick of the next group strikes, a body of ice of substantial thickness is initially presented to each group and gnawing away of the ice in comparatively small bits which occurs where the ice is always held away from the drum by one or mor picks in contact therewith is avoided. Thus, our breaker provides a substantially lower percentage of extremely fine ice than do the present types of breakers.

The drum shown in Figs. 4 and 5, is formed of a plurality of sections such as shown in Fig. 6 which are secured together by means of bolts 21. Each section is provided with bosses 28, a plurality of circumferentially-spaced holes 29 ex-- tending therethrough, and is also provided with diametrically disposed lugs 30, having passages therethrough forming the sockets 4 in which the picks are secured. Thus, the sections may be bolted together in various ways depending upon the pick arrangement desired. That is to say, they may be bolted together so that the pick points either strike the ice all at once or in substantially any order that may be desired. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the picks are arranged in inverted V formation in groups of five; pick 3| being in the center or at the point of the v with picks 32 adjacent pick 3| on opposite sides thereof, and picks 33 (the securing nuts only being visible in Fig. 5) are disposed adjacent and in advance of the picks 32.

In this type of drum, the ribs on the upper half of each section are axially offset from the ribs on the lower half of the section (see Figs. 5 and 6), and the picks are in circumferential alignment only with the ribs on one-half of the drum; in Fig. 5, the picks being in circumferential alignment with the ribs on the lower half of the drum, and the diametrically disposed picks being in alignment with the ribs on the upper half of the drum.

In Figs. 10 and 11, the ribs, except-for the cut out portions l6 adjacent the lugs, are continuous and each pick is in circumferential alignment with a rib which extends, except as noted above, entirely around the drum. The drum shown in Figs. 10 and 11 has the ribs cast integral therewith and any number of sections, such as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, may be bolted together by bolts extending through the passages 34 to form a drum having any desirable length or width of face.

By reference to Fig. 11, it will be apparent that here also the picks are arranged in groups having an inverted V formation but, instead of hav ing one pick in the center, two picks 35 form the apex of the V. There is a pick 36 on each side in advance of the picks 35, and adjacent and in advance of the picks 36 are picks 37.

It would, of course, be possible, as pointed out above, to arrange the lugs on the drum so that all the picks in any one group or in any number of groups would strike the ice simultaneously, and instead of having the picks arranged in two, diametrically disposed groups they might be arranged in three or more equi-circumferentially spaced groups. It will also be apparent that by bolting together two or more drum sections, such as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, the picks on one section may be circumferentially spaced with respect to the picks on the adjacent sections.

The outer faces of the picks are preferably cylindrical surfaces, and preferably but not necessarily cylindrical surfaces which, for some distance back from the pick points, are approximately coaxial with the drum.

While other means, such for example as pins, might be employed to prevent the shanks of the picks from turning in their sockets, we prefer to provide the lugs IT and 30 with tapered recesses 33 at the entrance to the sockets (see Fig. 11) and grind the surfaces 39 of the picks (see Figs. 1, 2 and 10) to a taper which will fit within these recesses.

While we have described our invention in its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the words which we have used are words of description rather than of limitation and that changes within the purview of the appended claims may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit of our invention in its broader aspects.

What we claim is:

1. An ice'breaker comprising the combination with a rotatable cylindrical drum, of means downwardly inclined towards said drum adapted to support a block of ice thereon so that it will slide freely towards said drum; said drum having a plurality of axially-spaced, outwardly-projecting, annular ribs thereon interrupted in two diametrically opposite zones of said drum, but being otherwise continuous, adapted to limit the approach of said block of ice towards said drum and providing continuously open spaces between said ribs for the free passage of ice particles therethrough; a plurality of ice picks disposed in two diametrically opposed groups, means detachably securing said picks to said drum in the interrupted zones of said ribs; whereby, when said breaker is in operation, said block of ice may slide into contact with the ribs on said drum in the intervals between the contact therewith of said groups of picks and thus initially present to each group a body of ice of substantial thickness to prevent gnawing away of the ice in comparatively small bits; and a toothed comb positioned below the zones of contact of said picks with said block of ice and having the toothed edge thereof disposed in radially closely spaced relation to the ribs on said drum; whereby to provide continuously open spaces adjacent said comb, partially 6 defined by said ribs and partially defined by the teeth of said comb, for the free passage of ice particles of substantial size therethrough and for limiting the maximum size of said particles.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which the groups of picks, as they approach the ice, are in inverted, V-shaped formation.

AZZEL CLARK BENNETT. WALTER G. ENGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 432,758 Mills July 22, 1890 526,304 Dunbar Sept. 18, 1894 744,296 Condula Nov. 17, 1903 859,093 Mills Apr. 9, 1907 961,946 Franken June 21, 1910 1,085,975 Dilg Feb. 3, 1914 1,692,472 Smith NOV. 20, 1928 2,048,569 Johnson July 21, 1936 2,065,677 Fegley et a1. 1 Dec. 29, 1936 2,071,730 Coventry Feb. 23, 1937 2,131,689 Marshall Sept. 27, 1938 2,141,663 Ossing Dec. 27, 1938 2,278,274 Lind Mar. 31, 1942 2,279,116 Fink Apr. 7, 1942 

